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Kwame Kilpatrick Wants a Get Out of Jail for a Fee Card

Kwame Kilpatrick Wants a Get Out of Jail for a Fee Card

An attorney for Kwame Kilpatrick is requesting the ex-lawmaker's release on bond, arguing that he is too poor to flee.

Published March 19, 2013

Not that long ago, disgraced ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick opted to spend a weekend in jail as a penalty for a parole violation to avoid going through the violations process. Now facing an uncertain future behind bars following his conviction on racketeering, bribery, extortion, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax corruption charges, Kilpatrick wants out until his sentencing, the Detroit Free Pressreports.

Attorney James Thomas argued in a Monday court filing that Kilpatrick, whose mother is offering her home as collateral, is too poor to flee bail.

"His bank accounts, his retirement funds and other assets were liquidated to pay [restitution]," Thomas said. "He has no funds with which to flee."

After Kilpatrick was found guilty of 24 out of 30 corruption charges, the judge ordered he be held on remand because he has proven himself untrustworthy. According to the Free Press, the ruling came at the urging of prosecutors who argued that "Kilpatrick had previously ignored several court orders from his state case in the text message scandal, lied about his assets and violated the conditions of his parole during trial."

But in his Monday filing, Thomas said that Federal Pretrial Services believes that Kilpatrick is not a flight risk and that his client doesn't fall into the category of the 842 people released on bond last year in the Eastern District of Michigan who failed to appear in court.

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